


An Artist's Inspiration

by yumehasaigo



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 19:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14940155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumehasaigo/pseuds/yumehasaigo
Summary: Relationships bloom slowly, and sometimes where you least expect. A Persona 5 one-off focusing on the protagonist and Yusuke.





	An Artist's Inspiration

**Author's Note:**

> Finally decided to post something that I had stashed away and my external hard drive died right after I copied it from the word document... Rest in peace, sweet prince. 
> 
> Anyway, this is my first posting here, so I hope the formatting looks good and everything. And most of all, I hope you all enjoy. :)

The first time you properly meet, the air is tense and awkward. He’s looking for a muse; you’re there to protect a friend. He ends up landing in the middle of your “investigation” – a trumped-up term to describe the questioning you’re putting the people around him through, all for more information on his teacher. After a while, he gets fed up and threatens you lest you leave. In the end, you do so without (much of) a fuss, leaving him to wonder about you and your companions in his solitude.

The second meeting is more consensual, kind of. He invites your friend to his home; she invites you, just in case. Your group has realized he's the one in trouble, his art being stolen to further his teacher's career and fame. The expression he gets when he looks at the paintings tells the whole story, even though he doesn't realize it. You try to talk to him, probing to get his perspective on the situation, but he shuts you out and orders you away once more. This time, your departure is more reluctant.

Eventually he realizes the extent of the lies his teacher has been telling; he shuts the man out, losing his only family in the process. He decides to join your group instead. You went through so much to help him, he insists. How could he just walk away when he could help others in the same way? Despite his eccentric mannerisms and shocking lack of common sense, he somehow fits right in and thrives. He's a part of your family now, close as a band of thieves. Well, you are _technically_ that anyway.

Before long he begins asking you to hang out, just the two of you. A painter in a rut, he’s turning his eyes to you for new experiences. For inspiration. You’re drawn to him. He becomes a light in the darkness, and you find that you can’t look away.

He doesn’t seem to realize the way your feelings evolve the more you spend time together. People already assume you’re dating because of the spots in which he finds inspiration (a rowboat in a popular locale is the pinnacle of this, until he nearly flips the tiny craft) and how willingly you go along with his requests. He calmly assures people that your relationship is nothing of the sort, the smile you’ve come to love bright on his face. Your heart twinges; you wish your relationship was what people assumed, but you keep those thoughts to yourself.

Over time his art flourishes; he is pulled into the professional sphere and his work comes to be displayed in prestigious galleries. He still says he finds inspiration through you. Your lives become intertwined inextricably. Your feelings swell.

One rainy afternoon he visits your home, carrying with him a book and a plastic bag of convenience store snacks. He sits down on the couch in your room, completely at ease. He's spent so much time there already, after all. The pervasive smell of coffee and encroaching dust is all too familiar. You sit beside him, restless. You pick up a controller and try to play a game, despite your wavering attention. Time passes. He asks you a question. You startle back to reality. Before you process what he said, words fall out of your mouth. They weren’t an answer to his inquiry. You can feel the shade of red you’ve turned. He stares.


End file.
